Apparatus for producing a textile fabric



Aug. 6, 1968 w 5, HASLER ET AL 3,395,432

APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING A TEXTILE FABRIC United States Patent 3,395,432 APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING A TEXTILE FABRIC William S. Hasler, Raymond V. Evans, Peter H. T. Dawson, and Wilfred Parker, Blackburn, England, assignors to Singer-Cobble Limited, Blackburn, England Filed Feb. 11, 1966, Ser. No. 526,847 Claims priority, application (ll/rggt Britain, Feb. 13, 1965,

J 1 Claim. (Cl. 28-1) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An improvement is disclosed in apparatus for producing a textile fabric, such as a carpet, whose surface has a pattern of colors or hues. Such apparatus employs machinery for applying dyes at intervals to selected yarns in accordance with the pattern which is to appear on the fabrics surface. The dyed yarns are fed to another machine which combines the yarns to produce the desired pattern in the textile fabric. The dyeing machinery and the yarn combining machinery are operated concurrently so that normally the dyeing machinery must furnish the dyed yarns at the same rate that such yarns are used in the combining machinery. The improvement resides in providing a storage means which compensates for variations in the speed of the machinery by altering the path length of the yarns between the machines while maintaining the yarns under tension.

The invention concerns the manufacture of textile fabrics, especially tufted materials such as carpets, and has particular, though by no means exclusive, reference to a machine and process whereby a tufted fabric is manufactured utilising undyed or untreated pile yarns as they exist on a creel or beam, the individual yarns being subjected to a dyeing or other treatment step as required during passage from the creel or beam to the tufting machine.

According to the present invention a method of imparting desired characteristics to selected yarns of a plurality thereof at least at spaced intervals therealong and of combining said yarns so as to produce a textile fabric therefrom, the whole as a continuous process, such method including subjecting the said selected yarns to a treatment step during passage from a supply source to a combining means and subsequent to the treatment step causing said yarns or the remainder thereof, as appropriate, to pass through a storage Zone whereat the path length between successive stages in the production sequence is variable so as to accommodate variations in yarn speed requirements of the said stages.

Preferably, the path length variation is controllable.

Whilst the method is primarily concerned with the application of dyestuffs to pile yarns at spaced intervals therealong, during the passage of such yarns from a beam or creel to a tufting machine, it is of application in other contexts within the textile field.

The invention also includes apparatus for practising the method aforesaid which includes a yarn treatment means Whereat selected yarns are subjected to a treatment, a combining means adapted to form such yarns into or to apply such yarns to a textile fabric, and a yarn storage means intermediate the point of application of treatment media and the combining means, the said storage means being arranged to receive the said selected yarns or the remainder of the yarns and to store such yarns for subsequent continuous or discontinuous onward feeding to the combining means according to the yarn requirement thereof.

Usually the yarn treatment means will comprise a dye- 3,395,432 Patented Aug. 6, 1968 bath or other dyestuff applicator, and the combining means a tufting machine, the storage means being provided as a dancing roller or like structure.

In a preferred arrangement the storage means includes a roller 0r rollers adapted, upon displacement thereof, to vary the path length within the dyeing section or between such section and the tufting section.

In order to reduce the overall dimension of the machine, and having regard to the fact that the dimensions of the dyeing section are governed in large measure by the period of time required for effecting dye fixation, (the length of the fixing apparatus being determined by this fixation time and yarn speed), it is proposed that the more conventional steam fixation technique be replaced either by utilising infra-red or micro-wave heaters, or preferably by an oil fixation technique wherein the yarn, together with the dyestutf applied thereto, is caused to pass through an oil bath heated to an appropriate temperature, the technique utilised being selected having due regard to the particular requirements and the character of the yarn.

The invention will now be described further, by way of example only with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawing illustrating one embodiment thereof.

Thus, referring now to the drawing, a tufting machine structure for producing a tufted fabric direct from a creel and wherein selected pile yarns are dyed during passage from the creel 11 to the tufting machine 12 comprises dyeing and tufting sections A and B respectively and a yarn storage means C therebetween.

The yarns 13 pass from the creel 11 through any convenient tensioning means (not shown) to a dye bath 14, specified amounts of an appropriate dyestuif being applied to selected yarns at required intervals there-along, and thence to a dye fixation bath 15. From the dye fixation bath 15 the pile yarns 13 pass successively through oil removal means 16, washing means 17 and drying means 18a, 18b, finally to reach the yarn storage means at C.

The yarn storage means takes the form of two spaced parallel rollers 19, 20 rotatably mounted in fixed bearings (not shown), and a dancing roller 21 disposed therebetween and parallel thereto, the said dancing roller 21 being adjustably mounted in suitable guides (not shown) for movement relative to the rollers 19, 20. As will readily be apparent, movement of the dancing roller 21 relative to the fixed rollers will vary the path length between the dyeing and tufting sections A and B respectively. By controlling the movement of the dancing roller 21 so temporary differences in yarn speed in the dyeing and the tufting section can be accommodated. Control means may be provided at the extremities of the intended range of movement of the dancing roller, such means being arranged to stop or start an appropriate part of the tufting machine structure, to vary the speed of a part of the structure, or to actuate an appropriate indicator, as desired.

The drives to the various driven rollers or other structures are of variable speed in order that appropriate adjustments might be made to synchronise the speed of the pile yarns at various stages in their passage through the machine. Variable speed drives do also allow of the starting of the machine at a low speed, the speed being increased to the normal running speed over a period of time.

There is also a dire-ct synchronism between the tufting machine and the dye bath, or more particularly the dyestutf application, since it is important that pattern registration between the separate yarns and the correspondence between a tuft as it appears in the finished product and a specified portion of pile yarn to which dyestulf has been applied be maintained.

By providing a yarn storage as herein proposed it is possible, albeit perhaps for a limited period of time only to reduce the speed of the dyeing or the tufting process, to zero if necessary, thus to allow of, for example, a piecing up of a broken pile yarn to be effected or a repair to be made to the finished carpet. It is to be appreciated of course that an interruption in the passage of yarn through the yarn dyeing process may well have a deleterious effect on the yarn, particularly in certain parts of the process, and the position at which stoppage is elfected must be selected having this point in mind.

It is to be observed that the dancing roller or other storage means may be located at other than the position shown in the drawing as determined by requirements, but such roller will usually be positioned beyond the dyestufi fixation bath in the direction of movement of the yarn. If desired a plurality of storage means can be provided at spaced intervals along the machine.

The primary advantage in providing the storage means does, of course, he in the fact that it is possible to position a dyeing and a tufting process in tandem one with the other and to operate both processe simultaneously. The storage means defines a butter between the dyeing and tufting sections of the machine which can accommodate and to a degree compensate for short term output speed difierences in the two processes. The dancing roller also serves to control the tension of the yarn passing to the tufting machine.

The invention is not restricted in its application to tufting machines for the manufacture of carpets since other applications will readily present themselves to one skilled in the art.

Indeed the present invention may well be of application in the context of a weaving loom or of a warp knitting machine.

What we claim is: 1. In apparatus for producing a textile fabric, the ap paratus being of the typehaving yarn treatment means for applying dyes at intervals to selected yarns in accordance with a pattern which is to appear on the surface of the fabric, and a combining means for forming the dyed yarns into a textile fabric so that the desired pattern appears on the surface of the fabric, 7 H the yarn treatment means and the combining means being operable concurrently and when so operated the rate at which the yarns traverse the treatment means normally is equal tothe rate at which the yarns are used by the combining means, the improvement of a yarn storage means situated intermediate the yarn treatment means and the combining means, the storage means acting to adjust the path length of the dyed yarns between the two aforesaid means to compensate for variations in the aforesaid rates, the yarn storage means comprising a pair of spaced parallel rollers held in fixed stations, the yarns being trained over the fixed rollers and forming a loop therebetween, and a dancing roller disposed in the loop and engaging the yarns, the dancing roller being movable relative to the fixed rollers to accommodate a large variation in the length of the loop while maintaining tension on the yarns.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,990,907 2/1935 Kellogg 112-79 LOUIS K. RIMRODT, Primary Examiner. 

